Nine Demons
by phoenixyfriend
Summary: Nine demon souls and ten human ones are sent ten years back by the order of the gods. Thus, the Bijuu, the Jinchuuriki, and one not-quite-dead priest will save the day, one ridiculously convoluted step at a time.
1. Turn Back the Clock

**Nine demons: Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Seikan, Chomei, Gyuuki, and Kurama.**

Nine Jinchuuriki: Gaara, Yugito, Yagura, Roshi, Han, Utakata, Fuu, Bee, and Naruto.

**Seven demons sealed in a statue, two in their Jinchuuriki.**

Six Jinchuuriki dead, one freed of his demon, and two working with their demons to take down the statue that held the sealed ones.

Ten years of time in reverse.

o.o.o.o.o

"Jashin, if this fails, I will kill you once and for all. Immortal gods we may be, but I _will_ find a way to do it."

"Now, now, Kami-chan." A scathing, mocking, irritable tone. "Remember, these are _your_ mistakes I'm fixing. I'm even making sure to keep Shinigami's little plan intact, right Shinigami-san?"

"Focus on the problem, not each other. I know you'd like to throttle each other, but now is not the time."

o.o.o.o.o

Nine demons in discussion, one of them insane, one of them resigned to the fact that his holder could not be easily saved, the other seven planning, planning, planning.

"Konoha, then. One month. Go."

They dispersed.

o.o.o.o.o

Six-year-old Naruto woke up in an apartment, knowing that he had not slept in this room since it had been destroyed in the attack by Pein. He noticed his body, and recalled that his last memory was meeting the six demons and six hosts that the statue had trapped, barring Shukaku, since she was insane and Gaara alive.

So of course, he chose to sink into his mind and speak with Kurama.

"Oi, I thought…?" He blinked at the seal that was no longer there. His mind was still a sewer, but there was no cage, and Kurama was drastically larger. "Whoa. What happened?"

The great fox, who was now halfway between the size he had been when Naruto had last seen him and the size he had been prior to his sealing at Naruto's birth, opened one large eye. **"Time travel. The gods have their own issues, and they've decided to push part of the problem onto us Bijuu."**

"What?" Naruto stared, horrified. "How could they possibly think that's fair?"

Kurama huffed out a breath, sitting up. **"They think it's fair because the two main causes of this problem were the Juubi and the Rikudou Sennin. Since the nine of us are what remains of both, it's partially our problem."**

Naruto was a little more subdued. "But… how many of them are there? What's the problem? Why just then? Why am I involved? Why are you so big?"

**"Don't ask so many questions. In order: three; there's a barrier; the dimension was collapsing because of that deer kid; Shinigami said so; I got the missing half of my power back."**

Naruto blinked. "Uh… details? And what was that about Shikamaru?"

Kurama rolled his eyes, large as they were. **"There are three gods: Kami, Shinigami, and Jashin.**"

Naruto's eyes widened at the last one. "You mean…"

**"Wait for me to finish, you little brat. Kami runs the realm of the living; Shinigami runs the realm of the dead; Jashin runs the realm of the demons. They used to have real names, but… well, s*** happened. To put it in terms that your puny brain can understand, souls used to travel from Kami's realm, to Jashin's realm, to Shinigami's, to Kami's again, and the process would repeat itself; that's what you humans call reincarnation. When the Rikudo Sennin tore the Juubi apart, its chakra did something that made it so that a barrier came up between the demon realm and the living realm that made travel between the two impossible. For reasons I'm not going to bother explaining because I don't feel like it, that made the demon realm start failing. If one realm fails, the other two get dragged down with it."**

Naruto frowned. "I thought you were going to be nicer after we finally started getting along during the war."

**"I'm allowed to mock you for your lack of intelligence. Fine, not all humans are insignificant gnats, but even you must be able to admit that your theoretical understanding is not your strength. And is that really the only thing you caught out of all that?"**

"Of course not!" Naruto seethed. "But I don't see how the 'dimension' hasn't collapsed then. I don't see what Shikamaru has to do with anything. I don't see why I'm involved. You haven't explained anything!"

**"Jashin asks for sacrifices to keep the demon realm from failing. The last of the Jashinist temples were destroyed a couple of years ago, or a few years from now, by some Kumo-nin. Your friend with the shadows put the last Jashinist, the only immortal one, out of commission. Does that answer a few of your questions?" **Kurama's voice was… irritated. Maybe a little amused. Certainly gruff.

Naruto's voice was small, with wide eyes. "Oh."

**"You're involved because the Shinigami decided to make you involved. He figured that if a prophecy was made, then it would have to be filled, so you'd possibly fix the mess. In trying to fix the smaller problem that you saw, you worsened the larger problem that you didn't know about. Congratulations, you were headed away from your goal of bringing great peace."**

Need I say that Naruto was gobsmacked?

**"Fortunately, something got twisted when they sent us back, and that problem's gone. I already took care of all of the time-travel paperwork. The immortal Jashinist remembers everything, and so do all the Jinchuuriki except the Mizukage, though that's the fault of the masked man."**

"I thought that was…"

**"No idea how, but it's not actually Madara. I'm not sure who it is; I've just been told that it's not him."**

"So… I almost made the dimension collapse?"

**"No, the deer kid did, without realizing it. One more thing: how could you help that Nara kid get revenge for his teacher but repeatedly tell that blasted Uchiha that revenge isn't the way?"**

"Shikamaru was looking for revenge? I thought he just wanted to get rid of some Akatsuki."

Giant foxes look amusing when they facepalm.

o.o.o.o.o

Gaara stumbled on the spot, automatically drawing his sand around him in a sphere, grabbing his head in his hands.

Small hands. Small head. Voice in his head.

What.

**"Oh? Did you miss me, sonny-boy?"** Shukaku cackled in the back of Gaara's head. **"I haven't seen for almost a year, Gaara-kun. Give your momma a hug?"**

Her crooning sent shivers up his back, especially since he hadn't heard her sound this sane in… ever. Sure she was mocking him… but her sanity scared him. It meant she was intelligent now. She knew things.

**"Oh, yes. I do know things. I'm done trying to make you insane. I gave up on that. It's useless. But that doesn't mean I'll respect you~. Especially,"** She was relishing in this. **"Since you're just a six-year-old little whelp of a human now. Mental time travel does that to a person, you know."**

Her cackles filled Gaara's head again, and he flinched. He reached up to his shoulders, his chest, his head. He was small. But his head was the last thing he checked. His head was bleeding.

From his tattoo.

He lowered his sand, dreading what he would see.

He was surrounded by ANBU, and a dead Yashamaru was leaning against the wall of the building next to him.

Shukaku's laugh went through his head. **"Looks like we didn't go back far enough to help that weakling, eh, sonny-boy?"**

Gaara actually had to struggle not to cry.

o.o.o.o.o

**"Oi. Bee. Get up." **Guukei tried to get Bee up.

You know what, let's just skip the rest of them. There's really not much of a point, since you can guess. All that's really left to know is that Yagura didn't get his memories because of the brainwashing.

We cool? Cool.

o.o.o.o.o

A thirteen-year-old boy in Yuugakure, one with hair as pale as snow and eyes that were, of all colors, magenta, woke with a scream.

…Well, at least he wasn't buried in a hole anymore.

o.o.o.o.o

**A/N: THIS IS NOT TEASER.**

**Alright, just had to get that out there first. The first full chapter of the expanded version of Teaser, which shall be called Teased (mostly because I felt like making a joke about the title of the pilot) should be out somewhere in the next few weeks. On to the actual author's note:**

**I decided to finally post all the stories that I've been considering writing but have never gotten around to. Which one I continue quickest will be a determined by both my own interest in the story, and the number (and QUALITY) of reviews. The chance of one of these stories dying isn't high, but they will definitely be slow, so if you really want to see one continued, leave a review, one more than just a line or two long. The other stories so far that I've posted that falls under this labeling are A Child's Fantasy and Two Moons.**

**EDIT: Someone mentioned that this seemed rather…kiss-up-ish to Hidan. Let me explain:**

**Within my stories, there is a running mythology theme regarding Jashinism. It started as a throwaway line by one of my 'minions' in AK: PCO, and then grew from there. In any case, the whole thing was always about Jashin himself, never revolving around Hidan. When I did get to Hidan, my goal was this: to compromise as little of his characterization and backstory as possible while still making both him and Jashin sympathetic.**

**Tall order, and I've had some trouble filling it. If you've read AK: PCO or Gender Confusion, you've probably noticed the growth ****that the whole thing's gone through****. I'm not trying to make Hidan sympathetic because he's 'pretty' or 'funny.' Personally, I could care less about how he looks, though I will admit that he's amusing. The point was always to contradict as little of canon as possible while still developing a whole storyline that developed a mess of a theo-political scene, despite only having three players.**

**Hidan's still going to laugh while killing people. He's still going to make you want to hate him sometimes for being such a jerk. He's still going to BE part of Akatsuki. His personality is still a cesspool of nastiness. ****He's just... not quite as bad in his goals. **


	2. Hush, Child Don't Cry

**A/N: Here's the thing. I don't like this story as much as the other two that are under this type of label. You guys, however, seem to like it a lot more. Ergo, I'm updating this first. Just don't expect me to put more than a minimum of effort in until we get to the interesting parts. I have plans for the Chuunin Exams.**

o.o.o.o.o

"What am I supposed to do?" Naruto stared up at the giant fox in his belly. The changes in his seal had come back with him, thankfully, though he hoped that didn't apply to anyone else. If it had happened to any of the 'dead' Jinchuuriki, it could prove problematic.

"**Why are you asking me?"** Kurama grumbled, flicking his tails about in an irritated manner. **"I'm still recovering from being part of the battery for the time travel in the first place."**

Naruto blinked. "But you're bigger than before."

"**I told you, I got the missing half of my power back. But I also had to expend a lot of it to help push this time-warp through the fabric of space-time."** Kurama grunted, shifting onto his hindquarters.

"…So what does that have to do with why you can't tell me what to do?" Naruto asked again.

Kurama groaned. **"Can't you just leave me alone for a while? I'm exhausted. Ergo, I'm grumpy."**

"But—"

"**Fine. The rest of the Jinchuuriki are going to be here in a month, or at least they should be. You have until then. Prayer-boy's probably coming too. Now shut up and let me sleep." **Kurama lay down and made a show of closing his eyes and turning around to face away from his blonde container.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, but turned around and stalked off, his sixteen-year-old mental body fading away as he woke up in the real world in his six-year-old physical body.

He sat up in his bed in his apartment and looked around. It was a mess. Not that his room as an adult, or near-adult, was particularly organized, but it was nothing like this disaster area.

He made a face. He hated cleaning.

o.o.o.o.o

Gaara probably looked like he was having a panic attack. Understandable, as he kind of was. It was probably a result of the sudden charge of emotions and the time-travel and Shukaku and…

The people around him seemed to be on edge, as Gaara was sitting against a wall, hugging his knees, and hyperventilating with what he assumed were very wide eyes. He was in the hallway of the Kazekage building, having been deemed stable enough that he wouldn't fly into a rage and kill everyone, or that at least the Kazekage would be able to stop him. Yeah. Right.

Could he trust anyone with this information? He didn't want to tell his father, no he wouldn't do. He would have told Yashamaru, but… no, no, move on past that, need to think of something else. He didn't know Baki yet, Temari and Kankuro were too young…

**You do know that most of the Jinchuuriki are meeting in Konoha in a month, right? You know, the Jinchuuriki?** Shukaku drawled, sounding remarkably bored with Gaara's less than stable emotional state. **You'll be able to talk to them. I wasn't exactly given a choice about telling you.**

Temari and Kankuro, Gaara decided. He'd tell them, but he wouldn't put any responsibility on them, just ask them to listen to him once in a while. Yes, that could… that could work. His breathing began to slow down a bit, calming down.

**Are you even listening?** Shukaku actually sounded miffed. **Really? You're seriously ignoring me when I'm telling you this? Are you seriously that stupid?**

"Shut up, Shukaku." Gaara hissed, squeezing his eyes shut. He curled in on himself some more. "I heard you the first time; I don't want to hear it again."

**Oh, really? Because it really didn't sound like that, dumba**.**

"Shut up." Gaara focused on his breathing, slowing it down. Calm his mind, form a wall between himself and Shukaku. Form a wall, a wall, a wall…

**You could kill them all, you know.** Shukaku said this with the air of someone utterly bored, maybe looking at her nails in lieu of anything better to do. **It would be so quick, so **_**easy**_**, to just surround them in sand and crush the life out of their little—**

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Gaara's eyes were closed, and his hands were up at his temples, squeezing down as if hoping that pressing down on his head would quiet Shukaku the way that pressing down on his ears would quiet anyone else. His voice was low, hissing, but forceful. The people around him had weapons out, though subtly, hidden away from his sight.

**You're pathetic, sonny-boy. **Shukaku scoffed. **I thought you were supposed to be the mighty Kazekage or something, and here you are, cowering in a corner just because you killed someone and can't deal with the same s*** I've been giving you for years. Pathetic little wo—**

The sudden sound of small footsteps drew his attention. He looked up, anything to distract him from Shukaku's homicidal ramblings and his own memories replaying Yashamaru's death. What he saw made him quickly look down again.

ANBU were leading Temari and Kankuro past, towards their father's office. Gaara didn't want to see the looks on their faces when they came back out, knowing that he had killed their uncle.

There was a short hesitation in the footsteps as they passed him, seeming to pause where he was, hesitating. Then they started up again, walking past him into the Kazekage office.

Gaara attributed the loud and disbelieving shout to Temari. A pattering of feet, and there was suddenly a young blonde standing only a few feet away from him. "Gaara!"

He didn't flinch, but stilled.

"Gaara, is it true?" Temari asked, hands balled into tiny fists by her sides. "Did you kill Yashamaru-oji?"

"…Accident." One word, just one to test the waters. When Temari didn't move or speak further, he said more. "He attacked me under father's orders, wearing a mask. The sand protected me. I did not order it to kill oji-san."

He watched her. There were already tears on her face, despite the fact that she had only heard the news less than a minute before.

Then her head dropped and she collapsed to her knees, right in the middle of the hallway. She buried her head in her hands and began to cry, just cry. The tears were there, but her sobs were silent. Kankuro stood behind her, pale and shivering. His large eyes were trained on Gaara, wide with fear.

Gaara stood slowly, hesitantly, and quietly padded over to Temari. The shinobi surrounding them shifted, and Kankuro took a step closer, as if he was trying to stop Gaara but thought better of it halfway through.

Gaara stood right next to Temari for a few seconds, watching her as she cried near his feet, not noticing him there. He got to his knees next to her, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"I'm sorry, nee-chan."

He whispered it, barely loud enough for the ninja, with trained hearing, and Kankuro, only a foot or two away by now, to hear him. Temari was frozen in his grasp for a few seconds, but then began to shiver again, and suddenly Gaara found that he was being hugged back, harder than he would have expected from a ten-year-old girl, kunoichi or not.

Kankuro watched from his position, a little uncomfortable. Gaara snaked a little sand over to Kankuro, not needing any more than what was on the ground; the gourd was unneeded, not that he even had it yet. The sand reached up and encircled Kankuro's wrist, tugging him towards his brother and sister, albeit quite lightly. He hesitated, though the panic quickly subsided, and came forward slowly. Gaara's hand shot out, faster than anyone expected, and grabbed his brother's shirt, dragging him down and into the hug.

And so the Kazekage walked out of his office, wondering what was taking his secretary so long to fetch his youngest child, and found her staring along with everyone else at the admittedly rather heartwarming scene on the floor of the hallway.

He frowned. Well… now what was he supposed to do?

o.o.o.o.o

Fuu stared at her body in the mirror. She was plenty flat even as a teenager, and not particularly tall either, but her body now beat that out by a mile. Her gaze was focused on her lower back, where the seal holding Choumei was. The skin around it was red and irritated, showing just how recently the sealing had taken place. If she'd read the calendar correctly, it had happened a little over a month ago. That was long enough for the seal to stabilize, but not long enough for the skin to heal. A sealing tattoo always took longer to stop stinging than a normal one, or so she'd heard.

A quick talk with Choumei revealed exactly why they were, when they were. Of the existing Jinchuuriki, she had been the last one sealed. They had travelled back as far as they could without destabilizing anyone's seal in hopes of freeing Isobu and Yagura, but from what little he could sense of the other bijuu, it hadn't worked.

"You can sense the other bijuu? Does that mean I should be able to sense the other Jinchuuriki?"

**No. I mean, you could totally train to be a sensor yourself, but that would take a long time and wouldn't be any different from a regular sensor. I can tell you when they're nearby, though. We can sense each other, though not by much if we're not trying to reach out, y'know?**

Fuu sighed, putting her shirt back on over her scrawny, seven-year-old torso. She jerked as a sudden explosion of anger came from the giant beetle inside her.

**That b****! **He raged. **How could she? Why— how— that malicious, festering, horrid old pot of camel dung!**

Fuu braced herself against the wall, hoping that Choumei's anger couldn't be sensed. "Choumei? What happened?"

**Shukaku, that's what! That b**** interfered in the timing of our arrival!**

"You mean we could have saved Yagura?" Fuu suggested in a hushed whisper.

**No, that was out of the question from the beginning. We all decided on a window and just aimed for 'somewhere around that time,' and she **_**specified it.**_** No, she decided to interfere with the timing so we landed **_**right**_** on the night that her Jinchuuriki accidentally **_**killed**_** his uncle, mostly her fault because of the sand, only a few seconds after it happened!**

Fuu blinked and then, as the words hit her, squeaked. "She _what_? Why would she do that?"

**Because she's a bitter harpy and only ever finds enjoyment in the misery of others.** Choumei growled. **I'm sure the others know as well by now, or soon will. It'll make that little **_**get-together**_** in a month rather interesting. Shukaku-**_**chan**_ **won't know what hit her.**

Fuu bit her lip. "Choumei? How am I gonna get permission to leave the village?"

**We… sort of talked about it before coming back. You can tell who you have to, if it'll help you leave. Or you could just run like Seikan said he'd try to convince Utakata to do, but I wouldn't advise that.**

"Utakata is running?" Fuu frowned, kicking her legs back and forth from her seat on her bed. "Is it because of Yagura?"

**That's why Seikan wants to get out of there, but I doubt that he'll be able to convince Utakata to run, given what Seikan told me about him while in the statue.**

Fuu nodded. "I… guess I'll talk to the general in the morning."

**Good girl. Now go to sleep, you'll need to be ready to discuss with the man in the morning.**

"Okay, Choumei. Good night."

Out in the rest of Takigakure, the few Jounin-level ninja flicked their heads to stare worriedly at the apartment of the new Jinchuuriki, feeling the hushed yet demonic killing intent radiating from the area. There was no actual chakra being emitted, so they just crept closer, ready to subdue the girl if necessary, and sighed in relief as it receded after about five minutes.

The moon shone bright.

o.o.o.o.o

_Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep, and  
Carry you down into sleep  
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep, and  
Carry you down into sleep…_

- Mordred's Lullaby

o.o.o.o.o

**A/N: Like I said, this is my least favorite of the stories in this classification. Please look at the other two: ****Two Moons**** and ****A Child's Fantasy****.**


	3. Take Me to Konoha

**A/N: I started this chapter out referring to the Raikage as A. Unfortunately, Word doesn't like that, so I'm going to switch to Ei instead. Sorry, I prefer A too, but…**

o.o.o.o.o

Killer Bee was known for being a bit odd, particularly with his raps.

Nii Yugito was known for being cold and refined, particularly on the job.

Both were known for being Jinchuuriki.

And both were in the Raikage's office.

Ei sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "You really expect me to believe this."

"Yes." Yugito answered, hands clasped behind her back and legs shoulder-width apart, chin high and shoulders back. Her stance was as professional and no-nonsense as she could make it.

Bee had been tied up and shoved into a corner only a few minutes into the meeting, his gag only coming off to relate his side of the story, after Yugito's death.

Ei stayed as he was for several more minutes, and the only movement in the room came from Bee, still in the corner.

Another sigh escaped the Raikage from where he lay back in his chair, and he looked at Yugito again, eyes half-lidded from the angle as he stared down his nose. "You claimed you can control the Nibi?"

"You mean Matatabi?" Yugito clarified. "Yes. Though it is not so much control as it is camaraderie."

"Prove it."

Yugito had not managed to get much further than one tail, at this point in the past the first time around. As she manifested a full bijuu cloak, albeit much smaller than normal, she noted the Raikage's surprise. He really hadn't been expecting that to happen, then.

"Alright, I'll believe you for now." Ei agreed. "Is there anything…?"

"We need to visit Konoha in one month's time. The Hokage will likely be told of the truth, though the Mizukage and Kazekage will not, and the Tsuchikage is a wildcard in that respect." Yugito explained when the prompt was given. "The current leader of Takigakure, whom I believe is referred to as the General, will likely be informed as well."

"I thought the Mizukage _was_ a Jinchuuriki." Ei was a little confused.

"He is currently being brainwashed by what appears to be a rogue, supposedly dead Uchiha." Yugito explained, her sudden stiffness betraying her anger at the situation, despite her emotionless countenance.

"Right… so Konoha?" He suddenly seemed ten years older. "That could be a problem."

"Not necessarily." Yugito sighed as Ei motioned for her to continue. "If you send just Bee and myself, we can enter under the pretense of trying to apologize for the incident with the Hyuuga heiress by offering general information on Jinchuuriki and Bijuu, which would be plausible since the Kyuubi attacked five years ago."

Ei stared at her, weighing his options, and finally nodded. "You have my permission to do so."

Bee's opinion, tied up and gagged in the corner as he was, was summarily ignored, though it would be nice to know that he agreed with what his brother and fellow Jinchuuriki.

o.o.o.o.o

"Whatever it is that you want, the answer is no."

Roshi stared at Onoki for a few seconds, and then opened his mouth to speak again. This time, he wasn't interrupted. "What makes you think I want something?"

Onoki sent him a very disbelieving look, perfected over the many years of being Tsuchikage. "You only ever bring sake when you're trying to get me drunk to agree to something."

Roshi glanced down at his hand, and then hid the bottle behind his back. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Then the door burst open and Han clanked his way in. He glanced between the two. "Oh. You're already here."

"Both of you? You're not going to tell me that there was some sort of mass bijuu rebellion or something, are you?"

Han and Roshi glanced at each other, and Roshi, being the elder of the two, spoke. "So… Onoki, do you believe in time travel?"

People always wondered why Deidara left, other than not being allowed to blow things up indiscriminately.

One reason happened that day.

People generally didn't survive a tantrum by the Tsuchikage.

It was a good thing they were rare.

_Very _rare.

o.o.o.o.o

Utakata frowned, blowing a wisp of hair from his face. He fidgeted. He shifted his weight.

"Don't just stand out there."

Utakata flinched at the voice, and just steeled himself and walked into the room.

Behind the desk sat a deceptively young face, which looked up at him, the scar-like seal stretching as one eyebrow was raised.

_**Not him, not him! He is false!**_

_I know, Seikan._ Utakata soothed.

…_**At least… at least try to free him, boy.**_

_Of course._

Seikan's voice was deep and masculine, involving some slightly strange speech patterns, and liberal usage of "Ore," but still insisted that, despite all that, she was female. After the first threat of… _that_, Utakata didn't express his doubts again.

"Sir," Utakata felt almost dirty saying that, knowing what he did. "I would like to request some vacation time."

Yagura, or at least his body, stood and walked over to some file cabinets, plucking out Utakata's records and scanning them. "Well, you certainly seem to have plenty saved up. I can give you several weeks off, if necessary. However, I do have to ask if you'll be leaving the village."

Utakata nodded, knowing that this would be the most difficult part. Yagura, even if it wasn't really him, was reasonable, but leaving on a vacation to a fellow village was always a touchy subject for any Kage. "I wanted to go to Konoha in a month's time. I heard the sakura trees are particularly beautiful there, particularly during that time period, and with my interest in tea ceremony…"

The last part was only partially true. Utakata wasn't a large fan of the tea ceremony, but he had learned a number of them from his aunt before she had passed away, and it would be a good excuse. He had needed a few days to research what was coming up near Konoha that he could use to score some time out of the village, and that had seemed the best.

Yagura thought, or seemed to, for several moments. "Tell you what. If you deliver a few scrolls to the Hokage for me, I'll allow to stay for several extra weeks so that you don't miss the peak of the season. You'll leave in, let's say, two weeks' time? Yes, that'll do."

Utakata nodded stiffly.

…He acted so normal. It was_ so_ hard to believe that Yagura was…

No, best not to dwell on it.

_**Unless you're dwelling on it to break the chains on both Yagura and Isobu-kun**_. Seikan rumbled her own opinion.

o.o.o.o.o

The Kazekage unfurled a scroll, frowning as he read through it.

He placed the scroll back down on the table, leaning back in his chair to think. Should he accept?

The Kazekage's eyes wandered over to Gaara, who had been flipping through an atlas, and seemed to be rather interested in a picture of the Hokage Mountain.

…Well, diplomacy lessons probably _would_ be a good idea for his children. If he wanted any of them to take over, they would probably need to learn about the other villages. And if the Hokage was inviting him to strengthen the alliance between the two villages, it could only be a good thing. After the Kumo fiasco two years earlier, a move like this wasn't strange at all.

The Kazekage motioned to his secretary to come over and script out a reply in the affirmative.

He didn't notice Gaara, still in the corner, smile ever so slightly.

It was enough to make any citizen of Suna run in terror.

o.o.o.o.o

Fuu burst into the General's office, doubling over and panting hard as the strain of such fast travel caught up to her. She snapped up straight, hand coming to her forehead in a salute, and her senses telling her that the General and his son, Shibuki, were the only ones in the room. "General!"

He stared at her in surprise, having just been busy teaching his son, only twelve years old, how to manage the village's accounts. "Fuu…"

No honorific. Never mind, it wasn't important.

"General, I need to speak to you about something urgent and top secret."

His eyes narrowed, coming to the only slightly erroneous conclusion that whatever it was had something to do with the Nanabi.

"Close the door and explain."

Fuu sent a hesitant glance at Shibuki, but complied, trusting in the General's judgment. "Yes sir!"

She did as she was ordered, and then prepared to launch into her speech. "Sir, I need to warn you of certain upcoming events and request passage to Konoha in approximately one month's time."

He raised an eyebrow and motioned with his hand.

Fuu took this as permission to continue.

o.o.o.o.o

Sarutobi was old, and according to Naruto, supposed to die in eight years' time (though apparently, not if Naruto had anything to do about it).

"I hope you know what you just started, Naruto."

"I do, Jii-jii."

o.o.o.o.o

In one small village called Yuugakure, a young genin arranged for leave of absence for several weeks' time, preparing to travel to Konoha. He didn't _want_ to go, but his god was adamant that it would be beneficial.

And so he went.

o.o.o.o.o

**A/N: So… I know that Seikan's speech patterns and all indicate complete masculinity, but I wanted Seikan to be female for a reason. Look up humon's "Girl's Next Best Friend" and you'll understand exactly why. It would be a hilarious running gag.**

**Calling Takigakure's leader the General is (probably) just fanon/head canon. I do know that he's not a Kage, but don't know what he's actually called, so the General it is. Or I could call him Shogun (which is the word for a military general, and would still be the title of General, just in Japanese).**

**Looking back on this… I really can't wait for it to get funny again.**

**I noticed a **_**huge**_ **drop in reviews last chapter. What happened, guys?**

**By the way… was Yagura creepy enough?**

**Ja ne,**

**Phoenix.**


	4. A Friend Has Come

**A/N: Here's a little food for thought:**

**Tsunade is fifty-four in Shippuden, and Edo-Hashirama clearly remembers her, with her being somewhere around the age of five in his memory. So we can assume that he died less than fifty years prior to Shippuden. Tobirama died in some sort of suicidal rush some time later, though I'm not sure how long. This was done at the time when Sarutobi was less than eighteen (which leaves a bit of questioning as to how old he was when he took on the Sannin as students; he was probably an exceptionally young Jounin, like Neji or the prodigies), since he was still a teenager when he became Hokage. Ergo, Sarutobi is, at the very most, sixty-five at the time of his death.**

**Don't you just love math?**

**(Fr***in' Calculus, fr***in' probability, set theory, matrix theory, group theory, god d***it why the h*** did I take HL Math?) **

o.o.o.o.o

Naruto tilted his head as he heard a voice from inside, one warning him of incoming… friends.

Naruto had spent the last three and a half weeks in the company of the Sandaime Hokage. Sarutobi wanted to keep Naruto under his own watch for as long as possible, which was at least somewhat understandable. Naruto was older than his appearance, older by a full decade, but his judgment still wasn't quite on the level of a man who had spent nearly half a century as Hokage. And quite frankly, Sarutobi didn't really trust Naruto to go around when there were so many people that he might react badly to.

And so Naruto had been kept in the Sarutobi compound or the Hokage tower at all times.

Naruto was currently in the Hokage tower, sitting in Hiruzen's office working on what was supposedly Academy homework. Sarutobi had removed Naruto from the Academy for an indeterminate length of time, during which Naruto would be "home-schooled" or some claptrap. In any case, Naruto and the Sandaime Hokage were alone in the office, barring the ANBU guards.

"Hey… jii-san…" Naruto turned his head to the northwest, eyes wide.

"Yes, Naruto?" In the middle of signing his way through a pile of papers, Sarutobi could be forgiven for not paying much attention to Naruto.

"She's here."

Sarutobi's pen kept writing for several seconds, and then slowed to a step. "Who's here?"

Naruto gave a six-year-old's giggle. "Fuu-chan, and Choumei, they're _here_."

"And they would be…"

"Number Seven from Takigakure." Naruto was grinning now, head turned fully in the direction of the incoming Jinchuuriki. The ANBU were slightly unnerved, but if the Sandaime knew what was going on, then they were content to wait out the situation.

Particularly Kakashi.

The Sandaime sighed, and stood up from his table slowly. "Well, then I guess we should go greet them, eh, Naruto-kun?"

There was no answer, and Hiruzen looked down to find that the young blond had already left the room.

The Hokage chuckled to himself and shook his head. "He never changes."

o.o.o.o.o

By the time Sarutobi caught up with Naruto (not that he was trying very hard; he had ANBU for that), the boy was perched on top of a small stone fence near the gates, one of the waist-high walls by a civilian home.

"Naruto, get down from there." Hiruzen called out, and was summarily ignored.

Thankfully for everyone present, it wasn't Naruto's "I'm going to ignore you and go play pranks" ignored. It was more along the lines of "I'm not moving an inch until I get what I want" ignored, which, while just as rude, was quite a bit less destructive.

"_Naruto_." The name was a little louder and a little more forceful this time, causing Naruto's head to twitch a little as he just barely acknowledged the Hokage.

"Get down."

"But I can see her!" Naruto complained, pointing down the road with his small hand. The pleading face he gave to the Sandaime was almost heartbreaking, but the man could guess that it was a fake. You know, probably.

"Still, I don't think people will appreciate the fact that you're standing on their fences, Naruto." Sarutobi chuckled. "Here, come down and you can go greet them with me, okay?"

Naruto grinned and jumped down, bounding over to the Hokage and reaching up to slip one little hand into the old man's. Together, along with the ANBU, they walked out the gates and up to Takigakure's General.

The man bowed. "Hokage-dono."

"General." Hiruzen turned his head a little to the side, his eyes landing on a young boy, and a young girl with light brown hair that was just barely beginning to stain an even lighter green at the roots. He wouldn't have _known_ that she was a girl if it weren't for the dress, but that was what youth did to a person. "Who are these two?"

"My son, Shibuki," The General placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, and then gestured towards the girl. "And that would be Fuu. She is the one that I mentioned in my letter."

"Fuu-chan!" A small blond bundle of giddiness shot over to the girl and hugged her tightly. The action seemed to surprise the other two from Takigakure, but they allowed the action to take place.

"Naruto-kun." Fuu was less extreme in her happiness to see a fellow Jinchuuriki, particularly this one, but was still visibly overjoyed to see him.

"If we could take this inside to the tower? My old bones ache for a chair." Hiruzen joked, but he still gestured back towards the inside of the village. The General nodded and followed, Shibuki and the two Jinchuuriki following behind the two village leaders like ducklings.

o.o.o.o.o

Gaara was not a normal child. The Kazekage knew this, and yet he shuddered to see just how much the boy had changed after Yashamaru's death. He had been expecting an extreme reaction, but not one that was this extreme.

At the moment, though, he was just glad to see that he'd managed to keep his weapon, not accidently drive him insane enough to destroy Sunagakure.

However, these changes were not in very much effect when it came to the childish eagerness that he displayed in concerns to traveling to Konoha. In fact, he seemed almost giddy about it.

The Kazekage shook his head and turned back to the road. He had traveling to do, and doing it with three children in tow was never easy.

o.o.o.o.o

Gaara _was_ interested in travel, but to any of you readers, it's probably quite obvious that he was far more interested in seeing Naruto than in seeing the sights.

(No, not like that, you perverts.)

That night, their last night on the road, Gaara slipped over to his siblings and quietly used his sand to sneak them out of their beds.

When they were far enough away from the rest of the camp, he built up a wall of sand to prevent sound from escaping and shook Temari and Kankuro awake.

"Gaara!" Temari squealed upon waking. Gaara was quite glad that he had put up the sand barrier, because Temari was not a very quiet child. As an adult, she was all business, but when she was ten… not quite.

Kankuro, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of his genin self, and was rather shy. Not quite as shy as Gaara had been, way back when, but still rather silent and shadowy. After the initial panicked yelp when he woke up, he just stared at Gaara silently. He was probably terrified to find the three of them alone together.

"Please stay quiet." Gaara kept his tone level, and hopefully calming. Not just calm, but also calming.

"What's going on?" Temari demanded. Ah, yes. Temari never had been the kind of person, even as a child, to act scared in a suitable situation. She had always been the kind to get angry when she felt threatened.

"I need to tell you two something." Gaara said, quietly enough to hopefully not push his sister further.

Temari grew guarded, and eyed Gaara warily. After as many horror stories as she'd heard about her brother, she was not about to just let her guard down. "Like… a secret?"

"Yes, Temari. Like a secret."

Kankuro had already sat down as though it were story time, clutching a small toy rabbit to his chest. Temari, eyes still narrowed, sat down next to him and hugged her knees. "Fine."

Gaara sat down as well, and then raised his sand up around him. Temari and Kankuro tensed, but Gaara just continued. The sand swirled around into nine small balls, each of which divided into two, one larger, one smaller.

Miniature tailed beasts, they became. From Shukaku to Kurama, all of them were there. And the smaller clumps became the Jinchuuriki, faceless in the cases where Gaara knew nothing about them.

"There are nine tailed beasts, and nine Jinchuuriki. I have met the Jinchuuriki for the Hachibi and the Kyuubi." He pointed to the only two Jinchuuriki figures with detail in them. "Killer Bee and Uzumaki Naruto."

"When?" Temari demanded, her mind already picking out the first discrepancy.

"That'll come later." Gaara tried to calm her down. "The nine tailed beasts actually all have names, though Shukaku is the only one whose name is widely used. In order, the others are," he pointed at the beasts as he spoke their names. "Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Seikan, Choumei, Gyuukei, and Kurama."

Temari stared at him in slight interest, but there was still a glint in her gaze, a haze of distrust.

"When the bijuu are all together, they have enough power to kickstart a certain… well, a certain technique, I suppose."

"What technique?" Kankuro voiced his thoughts for the first time.

Gaara stayed silent for several moments, and in a tone far older than his body implied, spoke. "One for time travel. Ten years' worth, and the Jinchuuriki get to come along for the ride, so to speak."

The two stared at him, slowly working it all out. They were children, yes, but they were shinobi children, smart children.

"You said ten years, right?" Temari asked tentatively.

Gaara nodded.

"So you're _older than me?_"

Once again, they were children, and despite being shinobi children, they had a child's concerns.

Gaara just stared at her.

"What?" Temari seemed a little defensive, now.

"Your main concern is of my _age?_ Not the reason that we came back, or what you were like in the future, but the fact that I am older than you is your greatest concern?"

Temari pouted. "I'm supposed to be the oldest!"

Gaara just stared at her some more. And then he sighed and shook his head, realizing that he really needed to learn how to interact with children. Partly for now… and partly for any future teams, nieces, or nephews he may have.

Of course, none of those future family members would come from Temari. Temari was going to stay away from boys for as long as humanly possible. And away from seduction missions. Particularly since he was going to be Kazekage (and thus the one giving missions), and since she was now his younger sister, not older.

Yes, he knew he was overprotective. He acknowledged the problem. He accepted the fact. That didn't mean he was going to change.

Kankuro just hugged his bunny closer when he saw his supposed little brother start staring murderously at a wall.

o.o.o.o.o

**A/N: So… this chapter was almost completely made of cuteness. Not of humor and plot, but of WAFF. Because I said so, that's why.**

**Don't worry, the other characters will show up soon too. I just have a bit more focus on the younger ones than the adults.**


	5. Glomping is a Good Way to Greet People

The initial meeting between the Kazekage and the Hokage, which was at the gates the way it had been with the General from Taki, would have normally been rather forced and polite, cold and formal, normally.

Fortunately, this was not a normal meeting between the two. The reason could be tracked down to two reasons, for the most part.

For one thing, the General was there as well, along with Shibuki. This wouldn't be a big deal, and would have, in fact, made the situation that much more uncomfortable, but Fuu was with them. And this led into the second reason.

That reason? The Jinchuuriki.

Fuu and Naruto had a plan. It was a very devious plan. It was a plan so devious, that no one would see it coming because of how mind-bogglingly simple and _stupid_ it was.

The Kazekage was surrounded by a dozen ANBU as his guard, something that was not in and of itself aggressive, but held an air of distrust that the Konoha nin at the gates mirrored. Bringing up the rear was a single chunin that had been relegated to child-watching duty, and the children with him.

Now, Fuu and Naruto's plan involved hiding on top of the gate, but given their supposed ages, they couldn't hide _too_ well, so they were more or less in plain sight for everyone barring Temari, Kankuro, and possibly some of the chunin. Gaara could see them. The Suna ANBU could see them. The Kazekage could _definitely_ see them.

This was to ensure that no one sensed them while they were adequately hiding themselves, and assumed them to be a threat, given their large amounts of chakra.

The ANBU stiffened when the shout came, but didn't move, as the Kazekage wasn't under attack.

"Gaara!" Fuu and Naruto jumped up and off the gate and effectively glomped Gaara, the sand armor doing nothing to stop them, as there was nothing malicious about their actions.

Most everyone from Suna stared at the two children that were currently holding Gaara on the ground with the force of their hugs.

The sand wasn't attacking them.

_The sand wasn't attacking them._

Kankuro and Temari approached cautiously, the chunin that was supposed to be guarding them doing nothing to stop them after a glare from Gaara.

Gaara returned his attention to his fellow Jinchuuriki. "Get off."

"Hm… how about no?" Fuu sat up, sitting sideways on his torso. "I like it here."

"I'm going to keep hugging you until jii-san tells me to get off." Naruto asserted, not bothering to let go of Gaara even the small amount that Fuu had.

"I'll use my sand to get you off." Gaara warned.

"…Nah." Fuu waved it off.

"You love us too much." Naruto didn't open his eyes.

Gaara sent what would have been a pleading loo, but just seemed dead, to the Hokage and General, seeing as his own father had no power over the other Jinchuuriki… and probably didn't care enough to help him out.

"Naruto-kun, you've hugged him enough to say hello." Sarutobi chuckled and motioned for the two to move. "You can get up now. Fuu-chan, I'm sure the same goes for you."

"Aw, jii-san…" Naruto moped, standing up. He looked the very picture of a rather petulant child. Fuu chan seemed more composed, but there was still an element of mischievousness to her smirk.

"…Hokage-dono." The Kazekage spoke slowly. "Should I ask?"

Sarutobi shrugged. "You can. I doubt you'll get an answer you like, but you can."

By this point, Kankuro was hiding behind Temari, staring at Naruto and Fuu with wide eyes.

As the Kazekage began to reply, Naruto suddenly punched the air and took off running. "To the Monument!"

"…Yeah, okay." Fuu took off after him, shouting over her shoulder. "Oi, Shibuki, Suna kids, you guys come too!"

"…" Gaara followed, his little red head bobbing along. Temari dragged Kankuro along behind. Shibuki glanced at his father for permission and then moved to follow.

There was silence as the kids all vacated the premises, sand blocking the Suna chunin babysitter from following.

"Hokage-dono, I hope you have a good explanation for this."

Sarutobi shrugged. "It's Naruto. That's all the explanation most people here need."

The Konoha chunin guarding the gates nodded emphatically.

"Shall we go inside?" The General motioned towards the Hokage tower.

o.o.o.o.o

**A/N: Short, but we get plot… ish?**

**I read a story recently that, in its most recent chapter (the third chapter, posted in April of 2013, I believe), involved all the Jinchuuriki coming back in time and planning a "Jinchuuriki convention," which seems suspiciously similar to ND, so…**

**There's a poll on my profile, asking which story people want me to focus on once I'm done with GC. Go take a look.**

**Ja ne,**

**Phoenix**


End file.
